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Cops, Kids, Killing and Video Games: The Psychology of Conflict, the Media's Role in Creating an Explosion of Violent Crime, and the Implications to Law Enforcement

NCJ Number
175596
Journal
Law Enforcement Trainer Volume: 13 Issue: 3 Dated: May/June 1998 Pages: 6-9-45
Author(s)
D Grossman
Date Published
1998
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article examines the psychology of close combat, the resistance to killing in healthy individuals, and the impact of violence in the media and interactive videogames on children.
Abstract
Research indicates that most participants in close-range interpersonal aggression are extremely frightened and that resistance to killing one's own species is a key factor in human combat. Studies also show that operant conditioning is a reliable way of influencing the primitive mid-brain processing of a frightened human being. Several psychological and sociological processes are involved in how media violence causes violent crime. From the psychological standpoint, children in industrialized countries are learning to kill at a young age through media violence and interactive videogames. The pervasiveness of violence and combat conditioning techniques in the entertainment industry has increasingly been identified as a key factor in rising violent crime rates. Procedures police officers can follow in responding to escalating violence in society are described. A combination of education, legislation, and litigation is recommended to prevent children from growing up "learning to kill and learning to like it."